A small group of reporters huddled outside the Evansville Bosse locker room following the Bulldogs’ 79-71 loss to Washington on Friday.

We were there to try and speak with Bosse’s heralded freshman Jaquan Lyle, who picked up a scholarship offer from Indiana and is drawing attention from a bevy of high major schools.

But as our conversation with Bosse coach Shane Burkhart drew to a conclusion and a reporter from the Illinois’ Rivals site asked about his star freshman’s media availability, it became clear that a conversation with Lyle was off limits.

“Nope, not gonna happen. Sorry. He’s 14, man,” Burkhart said.

Credit Burkhart for not further feeding the growing hype surrounding Lyle.

“He’s 14 years old,” the Bosse coach explained. “And we’ve got so many things we’ve got to do to keep his head above water. We’re not really concentrating so much on the basketball stuff, we’re concentrating on trying to keep people away. We’re trying to get him to a point where he is what he is to grow up.”

The natural talent Lyle possesses is clear from the moment he steps on the floor. Friday was Lyle’s lowest point total (16) in four games and the 6-4 wing struggled until late, when he hit three consecutive 3-pointers with Cody Zeller on the bench.

“As a freshman in four games, I don’t know if you can ask much more than that,” Burkhart said. “He’s meeting the call. He just struggles a little bit at the point of still learning the basics of some of the game.”

The strength of Lyle’s game is his versatility. He’s not yet explosive off the dribble, but he excels on the perimeter as a shooter and a facilitator for his teammates.

“He’s a kid that’s capable of doing a lot of stuff,” the third-year Bosse coach said. “Tonight, he saw what it was like to play against a 6-11 kid that he can’t throw through. I thought late, he was very good. I thought late, he showed exactly what type of player he was. But it took the two and a half quarters for him to get to that point. It took some calming down. He’s a phenomenal passer. And I thought tonight you kind of saw where he was as a streaky shooter, too. We’re trying to work on that with him.”

Burkhart said he’s fielded calls from Illinois, Purdue, Texas, Virginia Tech and Xavier regarding Lyle, but was only comfortable about talking specifics on a scholarship offer from one school — Indiana.

“I can’t speak of everyone that has (offered), but the one I can is IU, ” he said. “There’s a lot that have, but they want to do it face to face. They (the other schools) have (offered) through me and I have spoke to him. But it’s not out because they want to do it face to face in some meetings.”

In two games last week, Lyle was watched by Tom Crean, Bruce Weber, Chris Mack and Purdue assistant coach Paul Lusk. The attention will increase as more schools learn about the rising freshman.

“The kid’s a talent, but right now we’re just worried more on him growing up and him being a good basketball player and maturing,” Burkhart said. “If that continues, we’re going to be OK.”

Now it makes sense. I feel kind of stupid now that I re-read it because it’s fairly obvious.

Anonymous

“Do you want to play for my team?”

[ ] yes [ ] no [ ] maybe

Check one and give it to your coach to give to me

Anonymous

I think Jim and Isiah got along pretty well, even though they had to share the Thomas moniker.

Anonymous

He’s currently listed on the Clipper’s roster at 6’3″ 220lbs…so that’s stout, but not “big” by most standards. And yes, his absense is noted.

Anonymous

I’ve said this before–I told people Graham would be a better college player than Bailey when they were in HS. Pat never got a chance to live up to that statement because of his feet. Everyone just knew him as a slow jump-shooter with roots in the ground, but in high school he was pretty quick and could really get up. I saw him throw down a reverse dunk in a game one time.

Anonymous

There was also his tweet referring to Cody Zeller as a potential future teammate (I’m paraphrasing, but it was something to that effect. It’s in one of the previous threads.)

JerryCT

Ha Ha ! Yes , could have been me ………… I have been accused of watching games “blind” …… and especially Pritchard.

JerryCT

Listened to CTC over on Scoop and my takeaways are these;

‘ UNI will switch on D, very good at help, very physical’

==> our offense may need to reduce the % of dribble drive
==> points may be difficult in the mid range
==> Bigs may get a switch they can exploit , if we look for the pass

‘ No season ending injury for JR but he will not play ‘

==> this hurts but I hope it means more PT from Roth, VO, WS
==> interesting to see if Roth gets more PT

‘ Scheduling these games close to the B10 season is good ‘

==> Could be true but we will see by early January , I think i agree right now

‘ Any win , even with our schedule , is a good win ‘

==> I think most of us have supported this strategy this year

Anonymous

No Rivers this week? Major bummer. He’s been a huge factor for us this season and is one of the guys who can match up with ANYONE athletically on the defensive end. Plus, he’s stepped up his offensive aggressiveness. I love his ability to take it to the hoop.

Let’s hope he’s back on the court soon. He’s been one of the most impressive players on the team in terms of attitude and buying into his role.

This will definitely factor in to our ability to pull out two wins in Vegas. Let’s hope our other guys step up. VO is going to need to lock down on defense.

(On a side note: I LOVED when Rivers’ man slapped the ground on defense in the last game and Rivers was immediately like “Yeah, I’m just going to drive past you and score.”)

I have thought that he was the best player on the floor the last 2 games when you consider all he does, when he does it , where on the floor etc.

One overlooked and non-statistical feature is his movement of the ball like Lavin’s “hot potato”.

Do you believe he is our best foul shooter ? If not check the stats.

Aceman_Mujezinovic_07

Why do you think I put a picture of my baby girl (car) on here instead of my mugshot? I look like a lot of people (bald guy) so I didn’t want some stranger getting harassed at a game because I pissed somebody off.

Aceman_Mujezinovic_07

Who is number 11 for Bosse? Man, he is quick and strong for a PG.

Aceman_Mujezinovic_07

Also, nice crossover at about 6:40. Seems a little weak and needs to get more explosive and stronger but that’s normal for a freshman. He looks like he’s going to be good!

Dkcfitz3

Off the subject but does anyone know who is will carry the game on TV?

JerryCT

CBS College sports network. If you do not get on your TV maybe yu can get it on your computer

Anonymous

direct tv channel 613

Adam B

I don’t care about stats. If my life was on the line (pun intended) I want Roth shooting them.

Well written article – I would agree with most of it….I knew the players who played for Knight in the mid 70s and can assure you the positives far outweighed the negatives. He was more interested in his players welfare on and off the court than any other coach and was head and shoulders above Corso. He epitomized mid western values. CTC may get us back to the promised land but the ground work was laid by Knight (no disrespect to McCracken) – and at some time his name needs to be memorialized at IU.

Anonymous

Jerry,

It is stunning that Rivers is our best FT shooter (a lot less attempts than a guy like Watford, but still a huge improvement so far. His improved FT shooting should allow him the confidence to continue driving to the bucket when the opportunities are there.

I was at the SC State game and after watching some FTs by Rivers and TP, I took note of the ball rotation. Rivers stroke is much more fluid compared with last year. The number of rotations the ball takes before getting to the basket is also very “normal.”

Pritchard on the other hand has a ridiculously high number of rotations. I mean it’s spinning so fast as soon at it leaves his hand. It looks like the wheel on the Price is Right when some 300 lb behemoth unloads. That’s not even mentioning the way he pauses before the shot. No fluidity at all in the stroke. You’d think those things could easily be adjusted with a little work.

marcusgresham

My biggest problem with Pritchard’s free throw is the pronounced pause above his head

MillaRed

I said we grabbed 1 in that time frame. And yes that was 2007.

MillaRed

Ha ha you preach on son! I love it.

I was referring to the post-Sampsongate deal when everything fell apart. Bruce Weber was at an alumni luncheon or something and he said, ‘One thing is for sure, Indiana will suck.”

I will never forget it. What bothered me the most is Crean was already hired. So, talk about a lack of respect for the new coach. I got nothin for the guy. He’s a dweeb.

MillaRed

I was wondering if anyone else saw that. His jock strap was left at the free throw line. What a dork.

MillaRed

I know right? Anything, I mean anything but what he is doing now is an improvement. Coach em up man!

Aceman_Mujezinovic_07

Saw him get up and dunk of one of those highlights, make several nice passes, and go around everyone like they were standing still. Is he a only being recruited for football?